A man without a driver’s license and without a tooth stood in the way of a historic NBA team’s date with destiny.

Like a hockey defenseman whose face is familiar with the warm embrace of a puck, Julian Strawther played through it. It was the fourth quarter of Game 6, and he had received contact to the head, sending his right incisor flying across the floor. Fortunately, it was a fake.

When Strawther lost his baby tooth in that spot, the replacement never grew in. He keeps a prosthetic in the gap.

By the time his work was done, the pearly white was back in place.

“Thanks to the ball boys,” Strawther said. “They came through for me.”

Is there a more appropriate metaphor for what the Nuggets have endured? Left to die without a head coach or general manager, then battered by two deeper teams in the Clippers and Thunder, they’re somehow still playing — at least for one more game.

And was there a more random path to Game 7, a more unexpected figurehead for their survival, than Strawther and his Game 6 fireworks? On a night that’ll be cherished in Denver no matter what happens next, a 23-year-old guard who had played fewer than 100 minutes since the start of March suddenly wreaked havoc on an NBA playoff series that belongs among the classics.

To earn such a lofty status, a few benchmarks must be met. The tropes that make for great theater.

The character archetypes, such as the unlikely hero.

Strawther takes his bow. He was drafted 29th overall by Denver in 2023. He appeared in 50 games as a rookie. He was the last man in the rotation as a sophomore. And after spraining his left knee on March 2, he went about his month-long recovery process under the assumption that he would not be a part of Denver’s playoff rotation, he told The Denver Post.

“That’s where my mind was at,” Strawther said. “And the staff was transparent with me … ‘We may or may not need you to stay ready.’

“The timing of that injury was super tough, understanding that I would be cleared to play either with a game left or two in the regular season. Barely any time to ramp up. So my main thing was just trying to battle back.”

The Nuggets were tied at 80 when Strawther erupted. He scored eight of their points during a swift 10-0 run at the end of the third quarter, burying two momentous 3-pointers and breaking out his recently introduced “thumbs down” celebration after the second. As he hop-stepped back to the defensive end, he found himself face-to-face with Damian Massey, the close friend and manager of Peyton Watson, who was seated courtside. The two shared an emphatic high-five.

“We go to the gym all the time at night, Peyton, Julian and Michael Porter,” Massey said. “So I see the work these guys put in and how well they shoot.”

Strawther scored all 15 of his points during a 10-minute window of game time, shooting 3 for 4 outside the arc. It was his first double-digit scoring night since Feb. 27 and his 16th NBA game with 15 or more points. The timing couldn’t have been more serendipitous — except that to call it sheer coincidence would be unfair to Strawther, who once drilled a game-winning 3-pointer from the logo to save Gonzaga from elimination in the Sweet 16. This ice isn’t new to his veins.

He still watches the replay of that NCAA Tournament shot often.

“I think the reason I go back to that one is just to watch reactions more than anything,” he told The Post. “Like, it was a crazy shot to shoot with eight seconds left. Down one, to shoot it from the logo, it was a questionable shot. So it’s always funny seeing people like, ‘No no no — yes!’”

Maybe that’s precisely the sort of questionable self-assuredness the Nuggets needed to prolong this series. They’ve been a betting underdog in all six games, for good reason. The Thunder defied NBA history this year, breaking the all-time record for best point differential in a single season. Strawther defied logic by thwarting a team held in such high regard.

“I thought he held water defensively, too. That was a big deal,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said. “You want to keep an offensive player out there, but they have to be able to handle their own on the other end. And he did. We didn’t have to change schematically, defensively, because he sat down, moved his feet and guarded.”

That was always the snafu with Strawther’s potential playoff minutes. He’s been deficient as a one-on-one defender; inconsistent as a bench scorer. If the young guard was going to be viable for high-stakes playing time despite his reputation as an easy mark — OKC is especially fond of running pick-and-rolls with two guards to force the desired switch — the Nuggets would have to trust that his 3-ball would show up. He’s 33.2% in his career so far.

Even ex-general manager Calvin Booth, who drafted Strawther, was openly skeptical.

“I think Julian’s had moments that are good, moments that are bad,” Booth said after the trade deadline this season. “I think defensively, it’s going to be a challenge for him in the playoffs right now. And so hopefully if he’s getting playoff minutes, he’s humming offensively, which hasn’t always been there.”

But in this matchup, Adelman simply hasn’t had a choice but to cross his fingers. Oklahoma City’s depth has slowly caught up with him throughout the series, culminating in a pair of fourth-quarter comebacks leading into Game 6. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault has been abundantly transparent about his intention to rotate fresh legs onto Denver’s increasingly exhausted star players.

So Adelman has tried to find ways to play eight. To steal minutes. Mostly to no avail.

Until his patience finally paid off.

“Game 4, their role players make 3s. Game 5, (Lu) Dort makes 3s,” Adelman said. “Tonight, we had a guy step up.”

“It was just really good to see him catch that rhythm, show that emotion and get everybody going,” Jamal Murray said of Strawther. “I really like even when (Oklahoma City) kind of came back or had a run, his energy really set the tone for us.”

While he rehabbed from the knee injury, Strawther also continued to procrastinate in his free time. He has never obtained a driver’s license. Not in Las Vegas, where he grew up. Not in Spokane, Wash., where he attended college. Not in Denver, where he’s tackling young adult life and helping the Nuggets roll with the playoff punches.

He often relies on Watson to chauffeur him to and from the airport when the team has a road trip.

They’ll probably carpool together on Saturday, when it’s time to board a charter flight back to Oklahoma City one more time.

“I should’ve worked on that,” Strawther admitted to The Post about his driving education. “I’m gonna try to tap in on that whenever the season’s over.

“Hopefully, end of June.”